I will always protect you
by Star Light-294
Summary: Just a little AU one-shot of Harry interacting with an older sibling. I fully admit that I am guilty of falling into the "wrong-boy-who-lived" cliche, but hopefully this is a little different from most of them.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, simple as that.

A boy lay down in his bed while the older brother sat next to him, putting down a story book. They were brothers (born a year apart from each other) yet you could barely tell that they were related at all, had you looked at the two of them without their parents present. The younger brother, Harry James Potter, was a dead ringer of his father (James Potter), except for his eyes which were the emerald green of their mother's (Lily Potter). However, the older brother, Harold Lillian Potter, was the inverse of this, looking like a male version of his mother with his father's hazel eyes.

"You just love the 'Three Brothers' story, don't you?" Harold grinned down at his brother, eyes glinting in amusement. Harry nodded with a small smile but his smile turned into a small frown. Harold looked at him concerned "What's wrong, Harry?" Harry sat there for a few seconds, seeming to ponder whether to speak or not.

"Harold, do Mum and Dad hate me?" Harold's eyes widened in shock that Harry would think that.

"No, they don't" Harold reassured Harry, silently questioning why he would think that. However, Harry must have been practicing Legilimency outside of his brother's private lessons because he then went on to explain himself.

"It's just that Mum and Dad don't really pay much attention to me. You know Mum made your cake by hand? She had to make mine with magic because she forgot until I walked into the kitchen for lunch. And the presents Mum and Dad brought me felt kind of rushed, like they were picked up last minute" Harold started to frown to as he remembered his most recent outing to Diagon Alley with his Mum and Dad.

_James and Lily Potter had just finished shopping for essentials (and secretly a birthday present for Harold) and were now allowing Harold to visit some shops to buy some things that he wanted._

"_Hey Mum and Dad, can I have about 15 Galleons please?" Lily looked at her son in curiosity, while James looked at him with amusement._

"_Why do you need it?" Lily asked, not wanting to spend money on something frivolous, like Zonko's merchandise, even if James approved of it._

"_I want to buy a birthday present for Harry" Harold said innocently. James and Lily paled, looked at each other in shock and then turned back to Harold who was looking at them, one eyebrow raised. Lily took 15 galleons out of her pocket and gave them to Harold._

"_Here you go. You can go buy Harry something in a good shop and we will meet up with you at The Leaky Cauldron" Harold nodded his head in agreement as he began to head to the shop that contained what he wanted to get Harry for his birthday._

"_Thanks Mum!" Lily just nodded in acknowledgment as she and James walked off to Flourish and Blotts" _

"...Don't worry about it. They do love you, they've just got to spend more attention on me, y'know, because of the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' thing" Harold grinned weakly at Harry, who returned the grin. He snuggled into his covers.

"...Yeah...I know... I just wish you didn't have to have such a-" Harry yawned in exhaustion "-dangerous role in that stupid prophecy of Dumbledore's. He treats you like such a-" Harry yawned again "- such a weapon" Harry said quietly. After saying this he fell asleep almost instantly, leaving Harold in a shocked state about his brother's perceptiveness, almost disbelieving the fact that Harry noticed the fact that Dumbledore was manipulating him into a weapon to win the inevitable second war with Voldemort. However, Harold didn't want his brother to go through this, as he unquestionably would have if Dumbledore knew the truth behind the identity of the Boy-Who-Lived. A few seconds later he snapped out of it and shook his head, grinning sadly. He ruffled his brother's head and got up from the bed, pulling out a rectangle box from the sleeve of his robes.

"I won't let him manipulate you for his own designs. Even if you hate me for it, I will still continue to try and protect you from any harm coming your way" He vowed in a whisper, his magic reacting to the sheer emotion behind it. Harry shivered but then turned around to go back into a deeper sleep. Harold put the box on top of the bedside drawers next to Lily's present, which was a book on charms. Leaning on the side of the set of drawers was James' birthday present to Harry, it being a broomstick. Harold sneaked out the room, switching the lamp off as he did so. Meanwhile, inside the box was Harry's birthday present. It was a practice wand, made of holly with an empty core, for him to be able to practice defending himself with magic. Wrapped around the wand box was a piece of paper that read 'Happy Birthday Harry! I know you wanted to try out casting spells for yourself and I know you're going to get irritated by having to borrow my practice wand all the time so I got you your own! So like I said, happy birthday and come to my room tomorrow! I could teach you how to actually cast some of those spells Dumbledore taught me instead of just the theory! See you tomorrow!' in the rounded elegance that was Harold's writing.

Hey there! Uh, yeah, I haven't seen all too many all too many fics in the cliché of "wrong-boy-who-lived" where the person mistaken as the boy-who-lived was actually conscious that they weren't nor many where they were pretended to be to protect Harry so (as you can see) I decided to do one. I had an entire plot thought out for this thing... but then I realised that I suck at multi-tasking and I already have 2 ongoing stories, so yeah... not a good idea. If I continue it, it most definitely is just going to be a series of one-shots linked together and only written when I have writer's block. But yeah, hope you enjoyed this and see you later!


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